. >> host: what do we do to create the sort of environment now that we can both compromise? is it just something that happens when a nation is created and when a nation is continued? >> guest: i think there have been a lot of times in our history. i think that the constitution is a very good -- i call that in the book the engine of compromise. it propels us toward compromise and one of the ways it does it is by making it really easy to shut the whole thing down. it takes very little to bring government to writing hault. you know a couple of people in congress can do it in the president can do it in a few people on supreme court can do it. it's much easier to keep things from happening than then to make things happen. what drives compromise is the need to do something, they need to move forward. and i think that we are always going to have a lot of political theater and i love it. i am an english major with a background in theater, so i love the theatrical element of our politics. i think it's fascinating. i think it's dramatic and it's tragic. it's a wonderful bit of literat